Robinson R44

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The Robinson R44 is a four-seat light helicopter produced by the Robinson Helicopter Company since 1992. Based on the company's two-place Robinson R22, the R44 features hydraulically assisted flight controls. The R44 was first flown on 31 March 1990, and received FAA certification in December 1992, with the first delivery in February 1993.

Design and development

The R44 is a single-engined helicopter with a semi-rigid two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor and a skid landing gear. It has an enclosed cabin with two rows of side-by-side seating for a pilot and three passengers. Tail rotor direction of rotation on the R44 is reversed compared to the R22 for improved yaw control authority. On the R44 the advancing blade is on the bottom.

Designed during the 1980s by Frank Robinson and his staff of engineers, the R44 first flew on March 31, 1990. The R44 Astro was awarded an FAA Type Certificate in December 1992, with the first deliveries taking place in January 1993. In January 2000, Robinson introduced the Raven with hydraulically assisted controls and adjustable pedals. In July 2002, Robinson introduced the Raven II featuring a more powerful, fuel-injected engine and wider blades, allowing a higher gross weight and improved altitude performance.

Operators

An Arena Aviation R44 Raven II with a Cineflex V14 high definition camera system
R44 Raven at RIAT 2008
View from an R44 Astro at Cotswold Airport, England, showing part of the instrument panel (2009)
An R44 parked in a clear cut area near Manitoba, Canada, showing the length of the blades compared to the fuselage.

Civilian Operators

The aircraft is operated by many private individuals, companies and flying clubs.

In 1997, a Robinson R44 was piloted by Jennifer Murray for the first helicopter circumnavigation of the world by a woman, covering a distance of 36,000 miles in 97 days. Chilean president Sebastián Piñera owns one of these copters, and has made several public appearances flying it. Since 2002, Belgian Prince Philippe has flown a red R44 for personal leisure, with the unique registry code "OO-PFB", which stands for "Prins Filip België".[2] British singer Jay Kay also owns an R44 (registry code G-JKAY), which he pilots in the music video to the song White Knuckle Ride.

Police Operators

 Philippines
 South Africa
  • South African Police Service Air Wing[4]

Military operators

 Bolivia
 Dominican Republic
  • Dominican Republic Army[5]
 Estonia
 Lebanon

Accidents and incidents

The R44 was found to be prone to post-accident fires due to the damage to aluminum auxiliary fuel tank causing the fuel to leak out. In 2009 the company began installing bladder-type fuel tanks in all new R44 helicopters it also issued Service Bulletin SB-78 on December 20, 2010 requiring R44 helicopters with all-aluminum fuel tanks to be retrofitted with bladder-type tanks to "improve the R44's fuel system's resistance to a post-accident fuel leak. The company recommended that the change should be done as soon as practical, but no later than December 31, 2014. The company subsequently moved the compliance date forward to April 30, 2013.[8]

An accident investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in March 2013 found after analyzing historical data that a significantly higher proportion of R44 aircraft (12%) caught fire after crashing, compared to accidents involving other types of piston-engine helicopters (7%).[9] Preliminary analysis by the ATSB of the NTSB's accident database found a similar statistic, with 15% of accidents in the US involving R44 helicopters having post-crash fires.[9]

Although the data did not consider which type of fuel tanks were fitted the report mentions four fatal accidents to the R44 fitted with bladder-type tanks, but as far as they knew did not involve a post-accident fire. The ATSB recommended that the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) take further action to urge R44 owners to fit bladder-type tanks.[10] The FAA, the governing body in the country of manufacture whose directives would normally be followed in other countries like Australia, had not mandated the retrofit; CASA therefore issued Australian-specific airworthiness directive AD/R44/23, grounding R44 aircraft on 30 April 2013 that had not yet been upgraded.[11]

Specifications (R44 Raven II)

Data from Robinson R44 Raven II Pilot's Operating Handbook and FAA approved rotorcraft flight manual, dated June 13, 2005.

General characteristics

  • Crew: one or two pilots
  • Capacity: four, including pilot
  • Payload: 800 lb (408 kg)
  • Length: 459" (11,65 m)
  • Rotor diameter: 33 ft (10.1 m)
  • Tail rotor diameter: 4 ft 10 in (1.5 m)
  • Height: 10 ft 9 in (3.3 m)
  • Empty weight: 1,450 lb (657.7 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 2,500 lb (1,134 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 6 cylinder, flat engine with fuel injection, 245 bhp (183 kW)
  • Fuel: 100 low lead (100LL) fuel or 100/130.
  • Main tank capacity: 31.6 US gallons (120 liters)
  • Main tank usable fuel: 30.6 US gallons (116 liters)
  • Auxiliary tank capacity: 18.5 US gallons (70 liters)
  • Auxiliary tank usable fuel: 18.3 US gallons (69 liters)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 130 kn (240 km/h; 150 mph)
  • Cruise speed: 110 kn (200 km/h; 130 mph)
  • Range: 300 nmi (560 km; 350 mi)
  • Altitude restrictions: 14,000 ft (4,300 m) density altitude or 9,000 ft (2,700 m) above ground level in order to be able to reach ground within 5 minutes in case of fire.

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Robinson-Journal-2013.
  2. ↑ hbvl.
  3. ↑ GMA-News.
  4. ↑ AirspaceTechnology.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Flightglobal Insight.
  6. ↑ airliners.net.
  7. ↑ RHC Media.
  8. ↑ SB-78B.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 ATSB-2013, p. 7.
  10. ↑ ATSB-2013, p. 12.
  11. ↑ CASA-2013.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robinson R44.
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